Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2013

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeLAURO. I rise in support of the amendment being offered by my colleague from Georgia (Mr. Johnson).

I rise in support of this amendment to restore funding for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to the President's budget request level.

We all know that while we have had 26 straight months of private sector growth, we are still facing a very tough economy right now. The unemployment rate is still unacceptably high at over 8 percent, and more than 5 million Americans have been out of work for more than 6 months. But now the deck is stacked even further against them. Companies across the country have begun to require current employment to be considered for available positions, and these discriminatory practices are eliminating employment opportunities.

Very simply stated, what has happened here is if you are unemployed, what you are being told is you need not apply for a job. It is really incredulous to think about, in this economy today, people looking for a job want to work, and they are being told that, since you don't have a job, we're not going to give you an opportunity to apply for a job. No one is saying give the person the job, but at least level the playing field and let someone apply for the job because they are unemployed and if they are unemployed.

A National Unemployment Law Project survey of four of the top search Web sites--Careerbuilder.com, Indeed.com, Monster.com, and Craigslist.com--found over 150 job advertisements that specified applicants must be currently employed, and that no one who is unemployed will be considered. My God, when did we deny opportunity for people to make their way in the United States of America? It is unjust. It's unfair for employers to discriminate against those looking for work like this. And that's why we need to really fully fund an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

All Americans, regardless of their employment status, should have the same opportunities for employment. That is why we need to make sure that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has the necessary funding to investigate and to fight discrimination against the unemployed.

I urge my colleagues to join us in standing up for the millions of qualified Americans who want to work again, but who are being denied that opportunity, being denied the opportunity to find a good job and the chance to find that good job.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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